Fine
by f.f. lindy
Summary: Scully says she's fine, but evidence shows otherwise


Title: Fine  
  
Author: f.f. lindy (aka Veronica)  
  
Date: 12/2/02  
  
Rating: PG for a bad word or two.  
  
Disclaimer: You know they aren't mine  
  
Feedback: cherished and responded to: vmf2004115@yahoo.com  
  
Archiving: Put it anywhere! If you want to make a very happy girl type a little faster send me an e-mail so I can celebrate.  
  
Authors notes: Not the best work I've ever done. I was thinking about not posting it but I spent so long typing it up I didn't want to see it go to waste. Also, I apologize for the bad title; I promise to do better next time.  
  
************  
  
They were getting ready to eat dinner on a Friday night when the phone rang. Fox picked it up as Dana tossed the salad. "This is Sandy, for Dr. Barthalow's office, may I speak to Mrs. Dana Mulder?" It's just a doctor, he told himself, I don't need to worry. He gave is wife the phone and got out the plates to set the table. She heard the receptionist introduce herself and walked over to the couch in the living room just outside the kitchen. Her stomach tied itself in a knot as she eagerly awaited the news she'd been expecting all week. She'd sat down n the couch by the time Sandy gave her the test results.  
  
Fox waited impatiently and tried to listen as Dana spoke. He watched her pad quickly up the stairs and go into their office with the cordless phone propped to her ear. He heard her make an appointment for Monday at 4 o'clock. When she came back down the stairs, already dressed in her favorite sweatshirt she'd stolen from him and cozy flannel pajama bottoms he tied to unfurrow his worried brow. "So, what did the doctor say?" he asked in a forced casual tone.  
  
"I have an appointment on Monday."  
  
"Why?" he asked.  
  
"Just a check-up." Fox silently released a load of tension that had been building since he answered the phone.  
  
"Do you want wine with dinner?" he asked, now relieved.  
  
"No thanks."  
  
**  
  
On Saturday morning, when they woke up, Dana didn't feel well. Not wanting to worry her husband, she didn't tell him. Fox, though, could tell she was sick. "Are you alright sweetie?" he asked, having looked at her and seen that she wasn't.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine"  
  
"You look a little sick," he observed.  
  
"I just have an upset stomach, it's nothing. I'll be fine."  
  
"Okay, but if you don't feel better tell the doctor when you go."  
  
She smiled. "Alright Fox, I will."  
  
"Are you hungry? I can make us breakfast."  
  
"I could eat something."  
  
"Okay," he gave her a kiss and got out of bed. She watched him pull on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt as she stretched. A few minutes later she got up to join Fox downstairs in the kitchen.  
  
After they'd eaten and finished the dishes they went up into their office to get some work done. Fox looked up from a quiz he was correcting to see Dana working. He could to tell by the movement of her pen and the expression on her face that she wasn't grading a paper. "What are you up to?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Really?" He chuckled and stood up.  
  
"If we had to give up either the spare bedroom or the office, which would you want to give up?"  
  
"The extra bedroom," he said as he walked up behind her. "Would you rather be a penguin or a tree?" She quickly flipped over the paper she'd been writing on and slid an essay over it. He kissed her neck from behind her and laughed into her. "What are you doing?" He tried to take the essay off and see the paper.  
  
"Nothing!" she yelped. She yanked the paper out from under his hands and crumpled it up. Still fighting off Fox, who was tickling her to get the paper away, she tossed the paper into the wastebasket and it landed in among the other papers. "Yes!" she giggled and lifted a fist above her head in victory.  
  
Fox sighed and gave her a long passionate kiss. "I'll find out," he smiled and went back to sit down at his desk. After he finished grading a few quizzes he got out a sheet of paper. He wrote: "I love you Dana" then he folded it up into a paper airplane and threw it at his wife. She opened it, smiled and responded: "I love you too but I'm still not going to tell you." She folded it back up and tossed it in back. He opened it and gave her his best pouting face. She smiled and went back to work  
  
An hour later she was at it again, he knew she wasn't doing work, but it was different than what she had been doing earlier. He waited until she had been working on whatever it was for a while and looked at the clock. "It's almost noon. I'm ready for lunch." He smiled to her. He had done breakfast; she had to do lunch.  
  
"Go make yourself something," she suggested.  
  
"But I made breakfast," he whined.  
  
"You wouldn't last 10 minutes without me." She sighed, set whatever she'd been doing in the pile with her students' essays, thinking he hadn't noticed it wasn't work.  
  
"I know it," he grinned and tried to look busy. When he'd heard her go downstairs he scurried to her desk and went through the papers. 'People to tell: Fox (first-by mon. at 4), Mom, the Gunmen, Skinner, Bill and Tara, Charlie, Aunt Mary (and her kids), Amy.'  
  
"Honey, all we have is turkey and chicken, which do you wan." she saw him sitting at her desk reading the list. "What the hell are you doing? You have no right to go through my stuff. What makes you think you can just read my private work?" she screamed She ripped the paper from his hands as she started to cry and ran to their bedroom.  
  
"Dana, I'm sorry-" he called after her. He chased her down the hall but reached the bedroom just in time to have the door slammed in his face and to hear it lock. He knew his wife well enough to know the best thing to do was to give her a little time. He went back to the office and threw himself guiltily into his work. He pondered just what she as going to tell the people on the list. He knew it had something to do with the doctor, but he didn't know what. He saw that she was going to tell him soon, so even though it weighed heavily on his mind he resolved not to grill Dana.  
  
A couple hours later he saw her walk downstairs and finish making her sandwich. Fox took that as a sign that she'd calmed down. Sure enough, when she went back to their room she left the door open. He quickly made himself a sandwich and went to the door. "Hey," he said carefully. She looked at him but didn't say a word. "I'm sorry Dana. I didn't mean to invade your privacy. I was just. I'm sorry."  
  
She smiled weakly, brightening her bloodshot eyes. He walked to her and gave her a hug. "I love you Fox."  
  
He kissed her tenderly, "I love you too."  
  
**  
  
Sunday morning Dana had to run to the bathroom when she awoke. Fox followed her and held back her short red hair, as she was sick. He helped her clean up and get back in bed. "It's a good thing you're going tot he doctor tomorrow. You hardly ever get sick."  
  
"I'm fine. I doubt the doctor can do anything about a little nausea."  
  
He insisted she stay in bed and he brought her a light breakfast. He did a lot of thinking as they ate since she wasn't very talkative, just as he'd done a lot of thinking as he tried to fall asleep the night before. He couldn't help but remember the way she'd winced in pain when he have her a tight hug before falling asleep. She had, course, insisted it was nothing, but he had given her one last gentle kiss and told he goodnight.  
  
After they finished breakfast and he cleared the dishes out of their room he stayed in the kitchen to wash them. Dana, who felt much better, got up and got dressed. When she went downstairs fox mad a fuss. "I feel fine."  
  
"But don't you think you should talk to a doct-"  
  
"I am a doctor," She cut him off, "and according to Dr. Dana Mulder I am just fine!"  
  
He hung his head. "I just- I worry about you."  
  
"I know Fox. I understand." She stepped to him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing a kiss on his cheek. Then she plopped down on the couch. "I graded papers yesterday, today I just want to relax."  
  
"That sounds perfect." He fell into the couch next to her and reached and arm around her shoulders.  
  
They watched TV for a while before they decided there was nothing worth watching on and sat in the silence together. Fox gathered all his courage and began to speak before Dana did. "Dana, I've been thinking,' he took a deep breath, knowing this wouldn't be n easy conversation.  
  
"Don't think too hard, you might squish the pea." She teased, trying to lighten his mood.  
  
"I love you so much, and you said yourself, I wouldn't last 10 minutes without you. I just.Every day I worry that we'll never have the chance to raise a family together. I know that the doctor told you something on Friday, something that you're going to have to admit to and tell everyone, even me." He paused again. "Dana, if there's still time, I want to start a family so that no matter what happens, our love can live on in the lives of our children."  
  
Dana just smiled. "How many times have you practiced and edited that in your head?"  
  
"More than I should have," he admitted.  
  
"I don't deserve you Fox. I'm a terrible, terrible, woman. Here you are this amazing man who is nothing but supportive of me, even though I leave you in the dark, and I just continue to leave you in the dark."  
  
"Dana, you have to believe that I'll still support you if you tell me what's wrong. Please don't just tell me that you're fine, because I know you aren't. You've been sick, and soar, and asking weird stuff like what room is my favorite and-"  
  
"I get it Fox. I'm sorry. I just- I didn't know how to tell you-"  
  
"I want to got to the doctor with you. If you won't tell me he will. Who is this Dr. Barthalow anyway? At least tell me what kind of doctor he is!" He tried to swallow his rage but it continued to boil over.  
  
"Dr. Barthalow is my obstetrician. I hope you'll come because I already told his secretary you'd be there for the first appointment." She beamed as she spoke, unable to stop herself from smiling.  
  
"Obsteric-" his jaw dropped and a smile erupted on his confused face. "You're pregnant?!" She nodded enthusiastically. He pulled her to him and kissed her. "I'm the luckiest man alive."  
  
**  
  
The next morning when Fox went downstairs for breakfast he say a crumpled piece of paper hung on the refrigerator. It was a floor plan of the spare bedroom, refurnished as a baby's nursery. Along the top in Dana's cursive it read: "I love you Fox." 


End file.
